Groundbreaking: Mother Jones “We Shall Rise” Monument at Mother Jones Plaza
We celebrated this great achievement with Mayor Brandon Johnson, Alderman Brendan Reilly and DCASE/Chicago Monuments Project and members of our board, statue committee, donors and volunteers at a ceremony October 28, 2026 at the new site location.
I was delighted to be able to publicly announce the new name designations that you see in this headline. We are placing the first real woman and the first labor activist in downtown Chicago’s landscape.
It will appear next May 1, 2027. To top it off we have won the designation as Mother Jones Plaza.
The monument will be installed in the landscaped median at Wacker Drive, Wabash Avenue, and South Water Street. It’s official address will be 35 East Wacker Drive, across from Chicago's Riverwalk.
It's near the warehouses and locations that Mother Jones surely strode in her day. Nearby you could walk to where the old Chicago Federation of Labor met, where she was a regular visitor. Fairly close, and on the way to Haymarket Monument, you could find the original location where Mary's dress shop was burned out in the Great Fire of 1871. You can imagine her walking these streets, meeting the warehouse and waterfront workers who transported goods to and from the loading docks.
Created by artists Kathleen Farrell and Kathleen Scarboro and Dante DiBartolomo, the monument will honor Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and her role in the American labor movement. It has gone to the foundry to be finished over the coming months.
We are not providing any images at the statue in development at this time, but instead focus here on the pieces that came together to make this happen through the comments of our speakers and presenters.
In my opening comments, I mentioned that in 1894, in a location for a meeting on the Pullman strike and unemployed movement near this site, a reporter commented that Mother Jones “walks across the stage with the stride of a gladiator.” That statement actually embodies her, and now we will have a statue that meets that power, of a strong woman who was once called “the most dangerous woman in America.”
I thanked the staff of D-CASE (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) and Chicago Monuments Project. I called out especially Nathan Mason who has shepherded this event and has been a liaison for this project with the artists and engineering and C-DOT (Chicago Department of Transportation).
Alderman Reilly of the 42nd ward spoke at our event. Reilly has been a supporter of this project from the beginning, and without this, we would not have been able to make it happen.
In addition, recently he sponsored a resolution that in October became an ordinance that designated this site officially as "Mother Jones Plaza." That includes official signage that will appear on the street signs of the area. We salute Alderman Reilly for making this happen. Here is the resolution:
I want to call out Lynn Adler, retired Illinois Education Association staff representative, who helped us initiate this with Reilly's office. At one point we were told this would be unlikely to ever happen. Then it did happen. We are grateful to Alderman Reilly for this designation.
Megan Greally of the Ireland's Chicago Consulate spoke as Ireland's representative to the event. The consulate gave important funding to this initiative from the start, and Grealy expressed their affirmation that they honor Mary Harris Jones and her significance. She said in part "Her courage, conviction and unwavering commitment to justice continue to inspire people in Ireland the us and around the world....This monument will stand as a lasting tribute...and as a powerful reminder to the immense contributions that Irish women have made in Chicago..to America and to the broader nation. . . At the same time this monument reflects values that Ireland continues to champion today. Empathy, respect and the inherent dignity for all."
Bob Reiter, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, spoke on behalf of 300 unions in the labor movement of the Chicago Region, whose unions have backed this project from the beginning. He noted that he has learned of Mother Jones' deep friendship with the leaders of the early labor movement in Chicago.
Reiter spoke about how Mother Jones is icon of the labor movement. "A monument here recognizes the role of the overlooked role of women in this labor movement. " He added that "One of the things we do not talk about enough in this city is that the connection between Jones and the CFL was so deep that WIlliam Fitzpatrick and Ed Nockels , President and Secretary of the early CFL, planned her funerals and were the executors of her will." They helped to transport her body from Washington D.C. He reminded the audience that "this is a union city across the board" and "Mother Jones was one of us, she was of us." Reiter credited Don Villar who is a member of our statue committee from the CFL. He concluded that it was rewarding to plant a labor statue in "the heart of Chicago."
We were honored that Mayor Brandon Johnson was there at the official groundbreaking.
Johnson noted the role of DCASE (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) and CDOT (Chicago Department of Transportation) as partners in the project and noted the significant Mellon Grant that added to the funding. "Public art . . gives us a chance to tell the truth about our history, to reflect on where we have been and where we want to go. Through the Chicago Monuments Project we are honoring the people and communities who have shaped our city. . . Today we are lifting up a woman whose story is inseparable from the story of working people across the globe. Mother Jones understood that when working people organized we have the power to change the world. " Johnson reminded the audience that Karen Lewis, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union, revered Mother Jones and more importantly embodied her spirit. "We are a city of generations of workers and organizers who have stood together. This is Chicago's first monument to a historic woman. . .Let us stand together to build a city where everyone has a chance to thrive. . .and that when we stand together we will rise."
At the end of the talks, I reminded the audience that we carry the torch for Helen Ramirez Odell, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union and Working Women's HIstory Project, who helped us start this project, and Bea Lumpkin, a longtime activist who spoke for the meaning of the statue when we justified it to the city, who died just this year at 106 years old.
After the speeches, Logan James Cervantes and Brigid Duffy posed for a general representation of what will be a nearly 8 foot tall sculpture, visible from the streets an to vehicles as they drive by.
Then it was time for the ceremonial groundbreaking. You know we would put the trades stickers, but delighted too that the helmets used a Mother Jones sticker!
Below are more images from the ceremony.
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